Wednesday, August 30, 2017

ITALY: CARLO CONTI MAKES A SURPRISE RETURN AS HOST IN SANREMO?

It's almost September and Rai still hasn't decided nor let us know who will be hosting the Sanremo festival next year. If you think it's not important who it is, you are wrong. It is crucial. For the viewing figures and most of all for us following - would you like to spent five loooooong nights with someone you don't like or can't stand? Didn't think so. Sanremo already is a five long nights affair and if spent in a wrong company it just seem to drag on ever longer....

After various Mikas, Antonella Clericis, Massimo Ranieris and lastly Amadeus after Fabio Fazio and Fabrizio Frizzi are certainly out (phew) the past days has been all about speculation it will be Carlo Conti again for the fourth year in a row. The rumor is he will have next to him another figure from competing channel, Mediaset's Silvia Toffanin. If this year he had the Queen of Mediaset Maria De Filippi, Toffanin is the wife of Silvio Berlusconi's son and Mediaset's boss. All this is to prepaire Conti's move from Rai to Mediaset. And it's all about money. Lots of it.

All this aside, Conti would be a great host. He's again the artistic director but was ment not to host the shows this time anymore, but his conducting style has been a success. He gives space for the music, and has turned Sanremo back to music instead of a talkshow of all sort of things with some music thrown in every now and then. He has also let the newcomers shine, increased the number of songs in the contest and in many ways made it more like Eurovision. All good points in my books.